


The Countdown

by Epicharis



Category: The 100
Genre: F/M, First Kiss, One Shot, Series 4
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-07
Updated: 2016-10-07
Packaged: 2018-08-20 03:33:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,656
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8234617
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Epicharis/pseuds/Epicharis
Summary: Trouble ensues when Bellamy, Clarke and Roan attempt to disarm a nuclear reactor. Bellarke first-kiss one-shot, set in series 4 canonverse (kind of). Low-key Roaven.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Science included may not be accurate. Some was taken from the Chernobyl Wikipedia page, so thanks to whoever wrote that and creds for that goes to them.

“You guys have five minutes to get out before the whole place goes boom,” Raven warned, her voice loud in the earpieces that Clarke, Bellamy and Roan were all wearing. Roan seemed to somehow both grimace and relax at the sound of Raven’s voice, sudden and loud in their eardrums. They were running through the complex of the nuclear power plant, triumphant of their victory of disarming the reactor that had soon been clouded by the computer’s announcement that a self-destruct sequence had initiated.  
“We need a route out, Raven,” Bellamy said, his voice low and gravelly. Clarke looked across at him as they ran next to one another, and his hand absentmindedly reached out and brushed against her elbow in a comforting gesture. She ignored Roan’s pointed look in their direction.  
“Pulling up the floor plans now,” she replied. Their ears were filled with the sound of her furious tapping. They had managed to activate the emergency shut down for the nuclear reactor, but in doing so had tripped the self-destruct mechanism that had been installed to prevent the graphite moderator of the reactor being exposed to air, which would have made it ignite and send highly radioactive fallout into the atmosphere. They waited for Raven’s instructions, but when they heard her stop typing she said only one word:  
“Shit.”  
“What have you seen?” Roan asked immediately, his voice urgent though his face remained composed as always.  
“There’s a secondary reactor that will release radiation when the power plant self-destructs, unless you can shut it down manually. It wasn’t on the first plans… It must be a back-up.”  
“How long will that take?” Clarke demanded  
“About two minutes, the reactor isn’t far from where you are now. But the explosion… I might be able to hold off the destruction for ten seconds or so…”  
“I’ll go,” Bellamy said, slowing to a halt and handing his gun to Clarke who looked down at it and then back up at him, her chin high. They all stood still, hearts pounding and sweat dripping from their brows.  
“I’m going with you,” Clarke replied immediately, and Bellamy shook his head.  
“You can’t,” he responded gently. “You and Roan are some of the only things keeping the Grounder-Sky people alliance going. If we lose one of you, we could lose that too.”  
“He’s right,” Raven’s voice cut through, sounding reluctant to admit it, and then seemed to be back to business. “Bellamy, I’m switching your earpiece to channel 3 so I can give you separate directions. I’ll get you as much time as I can.”  
He nodded, turning to Clarke and brushing a piece of hair out of her face as she shook her head, feeling tears fill her eyes. He smiled ruefully at her and kissed her forehead.  
“May we meet again,” he said, drawing back. She smiled weakly, holding onto his hand.  
“May we meet again,” she echoed, and he nodded and turned to Roan who clapped his hand on Bellamy’s shoulder.  
“Be safe, brother,” Roan remarked, and Bellamy nodded. As he started to turn away, Clarke spoke out:  
"Bellamy."  
He turned and looked at her, his eyes looking so much deeper into her than anyone else's could.  
"Come back to me," was all she said, though her voice broke a little as she did so.  
"I will," he promised, smiling at her in a way that she supposed was supposed to be reassuring. Then he turned away. Clarke felt like something was being ripped away from her when she watched him run back to the generator – one of the only things that was good in her life, the thing that kept her fighting. She felt Roan tugging at her arm, and she eventually looked back at him.  
“We don’t have time. He can do it,” Roan urged, and Clarke eventually let herself be pulled in the direction that Raven was instructing them. She trusted him, she knew he would do it. So she and Roan turned, and began to run.

“You have three minutes to get out of there,” Raven stated as the two of them jumped over a knocked-over barrel and then through a doorway. Clarke could feel her breath shortening and catching in her throat, and part of her wondered if she would be able to make it out of the blast zone in time. As if he could hear her thoughts, Roan looked across at her.  
“Today is not the day we die, Wanheda,” he promised, and Clarke looked straight ahead and sprinted as fast as she could physically push herself until they were both running out of the nuclear power plant.  
“One minute and counting,” Raven reported, “500 metres until you’re out of range.”  
Clarke looked across at Roan, and saw his face change when Raven spoke. It seemed to set, becoming even more determined, and he seized her by the wrist and hurtled ahead.  
“Raven, how is Bellamy doing?” Clarke asked, and was met by a slight pause at the other end. “Raven, you there?”  
“He switched off the reactor, that’s the main thing,” Raven replied finally. “Now concentrate. Thirty seconds.”  
“But can he get out in time?” Clarke insisted on asking, and Roan glanced at her – not with a sly smile like he usually did when she was with or talking about Bellamy, but with pity.  
“I’m doing my best, Clarke. I promise.”  
Clarke exhaled, and continued running. Her legs felt weak and like they were going to give out at any moment from such demanding running, but she knew that stopping wasn’t an option she had.  
“15 seconds, 250 metres left.”  
Clarke whipped her head around to see if she could see Bellamy behind them, but she couldn’t. Roan just squeezed her wrist.  
“Eyes forward, Clarke. He’ll be fine.”  
“Five seconds, brace for impact,” Raven’s voice was a warning, and Roan released Clarke’s wrist and threw himself at the ground, his hands covering his head. A moment later, Clarke did the same – and as she did so, the power plant exploded, the force pushing her forward and making her twist her ankle as she fell. She felt sand and dust covering her body, heard shrapnel falling behind them, and stayed still until she heard Raven’s voice crackling from the earpiece.  
“It’s over.”  
Clarke exhaled and slowly rolled off her stomach and turned back to the power plant. She couldn’t see it through the smoke, the only thing she could see was the scarlet flames that ripped through what remained.  
“Raven, anything from Bellamy?” Clarke asked, pressing her earpiece with her finger so she could hear. It must have been damaged in the blast. Raven didn’t reply for what felt like forever.  
“No response.”  
Clarke closed her eyes, feeling the tears building behind them until eventually one fell down her face. She wiped it away, acutely aware of Roan’s gaze on her, then stood and looked towards the power plant.  
“Miller and Bryan are in the Rover, one minute away from your location,” Raven announced, but her voice sounded tired and weak.  
“No major injuries to report,” Roan muttered, still sitting in the sand, and Clarke heard Raven sigh in relief when she heard him speak.  
“Good. Try and stay that way.”  
Clarke didn’t move from where she stood when she heard the Rover approaching, and didn’t turn to greet Miller and Bryan. She just stayed watching the power plant burn, the smoke billowing across the sand and the wind blowing tendrils of her hair into her face.  
“Clarke,” she heard Miller say gently from behind her. She didn’t respond. He and Bryan were wearing the same kind of ear piece as they were, and there was no doubt that Raven had informed them that Bellamy had ceased transmission.  
“Clarke,” he tried again, and this time Clarke waved her hand at him.  
“He’s coming,” she insisted. “We’re waiting for him.”  
Miller paused for a second, before sadly saying, “Okay.”  
She could hear it in all of them that they believed he was dead. But she knew he wasn’t. She could feel it, somewhere deep inside her, she could feel he was alive. She believed in him.

After five minutes, Roan spoke.  
“Wanheda, we’re achieving nothing here, and the smoke isn’t safe.”  
She closed her eyes, and was just about to snap at him when she saw something in the smoke. She stepped forward, her eyes wide and her lips slightly parted. Something in the smoke was coming towards them.  
“Do you see that?” She demanded, looking back at them for the first time. None of them spoke, but they all nodded. She turned forward again, not trying to get her hopes up but she could feel her heart swelling. Then, after a few seconds, the shape was discernibly a man.  
“It’s him,” she breathed, and before anyone could stop her she had started to run as fast as she could with her twisted ankle towards him. She didn’t know when he saw her, but he began to sprint too until they collided into each other, and Clarke surprised herself by placing her hands on Bellamy’s neck and pulling his lips down to hers. She could feel his surprise too, for a second, and then he kissed her back, his arms winding round her waist and pulling her close to him like he never wanted to let go. She smiled into the kiss and slowly pulled back, kissing him twice more quickly as she did so. She searched his face now, seeing him smiling at her with his warm brown eyes shining.  
“I thought you were gone,” she admitted, her hands moving to his chest and bunching themselves in the loose, light brown material of his shirt.  
“I promised I'd come back,” he smiled, then bent down to kiss her again. Kissing him was an intoxicating sense of safety that she hadn’t felt in a long, long time. He felt like home.


End file.
